Vadamarachchi South West Divisional Council

In 1987 there was a major re-organisation of local government in Sri Lanka. District Development Councils were abolished and replaced by Divisional Councils (Pradeshiya Sabha or Pradesha Sabhai). The Pradeshiya Sabha Act No. 15 of 1987 was passed by Parliament on 15 April 1987 and on 1 January 1988 257 Divisional Councils started functioning. The Divisional Councils were generally commensurate with their namesake Divisional Secretary's Divisions. Vadamarachchi South West Divisional Council was established as the local authority for the Vadamarachchi South West DS Division. However, according to the pro-LTTE TamilNet, the Sri Lankan government had suspended all local government in the north and east of the country in 1983 using emergency regulations.[1] The civil war prevented elections from being held for SWDC until 1998 as the LTTE did not hold elections when it controlled the area.[2]

In March 1994 elections were held in the east and in Vavuniya in the north. However, elections weren't held in other areas of the north, including the Jaffna peninsula, because most of these areas were at that time controlled by the rebel Tamil Tigers. In August 1995 the Sri Lankan military launched an offensive to recapture the Jaffna peninsula. By December 1995 the military had captured most of the Valikamam region of the peninsula, including the city of Jaffna. By 16 May 1996 the military had recaptured the entire peninsula.[3] In late 1996 the government announced elections would be held for 23 local authorities in Jaffna District, Kilinochchi District, Mannar District and Vavuniya District but following opposition from Tamil political parties postponed them.[4] On 3 December 1997 the government announced that elections would be held for the 17 local authorities on the Jaffna peninsula.[5] The Tamil political parties were still opposed to holding elections as "normalcy" hadn't returned to the peninsula. The peninsula was under the firm grip of the Sri Lankan military and civil government had little, if any, role in the administration of the peninsula. The Tamil Tigers were also firmly against the elections being held. Despite these objections the elections were held on 29 January 1998.

Results of the local government election 2018

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) took over the Karaveddy Pradeshiya Sabha. Thangavelayutham Ainkaran (Chairman), Kanthar Ponnaijah was elected as Deputy Chairman.

The first session of the Karaveddy Pradeshiya Sabha was headed by Local Commissioner, Pattic Niranjan on 2018.04.03. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sri Lanka Independence Party proposed Sadanivam Ramanathan.

When asked to hold a secret ballot or a referendum, 11 ballot papers and 10 members of the secret ballot demanded a referendum.

Following a public referendum, nine members of the Tamil National Alliance and 2 United National Party members voted for Aungan Thangavelaiyat. Three members of the Eelam People's Democratic Party and seven members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party voted Sadasivam Ramanathan.

Seven members of the Tamil National People's Front and three members of the Tamil United Liberation Front were neutral. Subsequently, the TNA chairperson Kanthar Ponniyai spoke to the Tamil National Alliance. No one else was selected as an advocate without competition.